,                               ~~22368 H
OCIAL DEVELOPMENT PAPERS
E NV I RO N M E NTALLY AN D SOC I ALLY S USTA I N AB LE D EVE LO P M IE NT N ETWO RK
Paper Number 29
November 1998
Participation and the
World Bank:
Successes, Constraints,
and Responses
Draft for Discussion
(prepared for the International Conference
on Upscaling and Mainstreaming
Participation of Primary Stakeholders:
Lessons Learned and Ways Forward)
Maria Aycrigg
THE WORLD BANK






Social Development Papers
Paper Number 29
November 1998
Participation and the
World Bank:
Successes, Constraints,
and Responses
Draft for Discussion
(prepared for the International Conference
on Upscaling and Mainstreaming
Participation of Primary Stakeholders:
Lessons Learned and Ways Forward)
Maria Aycrigg



This publication was developed and produced by the Social Development Family of the World Bank. The
Environment, Rural Development, and Social Development Families are part of the Environmentally and
Socially Sustainable Development (ESSD) Network. The Social Development Family is made up of World
Bank staff working on social issues.
Papers in the Social Development series are not formal publications of the World Bank. They are
published informally and circulated to encourage discussion and comment within the development
community. The findings, interpretations, judgments, and conclusions expressed in this paper are those
of the author(s) and should not be attributed to the World Bank, to its affiliated organizations, or to
members of the Board of Executive Directors or the governments they represent.
Copies of this paper are available from:
Social Development
The World Bank
1818 H Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20433 USA
Fax: 202-522-3247
E-mail: sdpublications@worldbank.org



Contents
Preface    iii
Acronyms    iv
1.   Introduction    1
Overview 1
Background and Methodology   2
Institutional Context   3
2.   Participation in Projects    4
Problems in the Project Cycle   4
Response to Problems in the Project Cycle    6
Social Funds  6
Adaptable Lending Instruments   7
Focus on Community Institutions   8
3.   Participation in Policy and Analytical Work            10
Country Assistance Strategy   10
Policy Consultations    12
Structural Adjustment Participatory Review Initiative   12
Forest Policy Implementation Review  13
Indigenous Peoples Operational Policy Revision   13
Analytical Work   14
Participatory Poverty Assessments  14
World Development Report 2001   15
Analytical Tools   16
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Participation and the World Bank
4.   Institutional and In-Country Constraints           17
Institutional Constraints  17
Management Support      17
Resource Limitations    17
Consultation vs. Participation  19
Evidence of Value Added of Participation    19
In-Country Constraints   20
NGO Capacity      20
Government Commitment   20
5.    Institutional Responses    22
Investments in Human Resources      22
Social Development Family and Network  22
Resident Mission Staff    23
Skills Training   23
Procedures and Policies    24
Evaluation Orientation  24
Procurement and Disbursement    24
Information and Disclosure Policy    24
6.   Conclusions and Emerging Issues            27
Conclusions    27
Emerging Issues    28
Notes       30
References        31
Boxes
1   Action Plan as Outlined in "World Bank and Participation" (1994)   2
2   The Effects of Consultation and Participation   5
3   How Participation and Consultation Contribute to a CAS    11
ii



Preface
This paper was prepared as an input to  This paper draws heavily on input from
the international conference, Upscaling  the many staff members who contributed
and Mains treaming Participation of Primary    their time and effort to organizing and
Stakeholders: Lessons Learned and Ways  participating in focus group meetings
Forward," held in Washington, D.C. in  and commenting on drafts. The paper
November 1998. The paper focuses       was written by Maria Aycrigg, a
largely on internal aspects of the Bank's    consultant from Environmental
participation work. This is a working  Resources Management to the Bank,
document that will be revised based on  under the supervision of Aubrey
input from the conference and other    Williams, acting head of the NGO Unit,
regional consultations. The Bank expects   Social Development Department. Gloria
that this paper will help to define the  Davis, director of the Social Development
work program of its participation      Department, and Parmesh Shah,
thematic team.                         participation coordinator, contributed to
both the process of research and the
content of the paper.
iii



Acronyms
APL                    Adaptable Program Loan
CAS                    country assistance strategy
EDI                   Economic Development Institute
ESW                    economic and sector work
IFC                   International Finance Corporation
LIL                    Learning and Innovation Loan
MBO                   management by objective
NGOs                   nongovernmental organizations
OED                   Operations Evaluation Department
PPA                    participatory poverty assessment
QAG                    Quality Assurance Group
RBM                   results-based management
SDV                   Social Development Family
iv



1. Introduction
1.   Since his appointment as president  the Bank as an institution, the Bank has
of the World Bank, James D. Wolfensohn   endeavored to implement the action plan
has been strongly supportive of       outlined in 1994. It has made good
participatory approaches in projects and    progress in some areas of the participation
policies. In his 1998 Annual Meetings  agenda and has achieved success beyond
speech, Mr. Wolfensohn said:          what was originally expected in a few. In
some areas, the Bank has fallen short of its
"Participation matters - not only as a    original goals.
means of improving development
effectiveness, as we know from our  3.   The Bank has a variety of
recent studies -but as the key to   instruments for assisting its client
long-term sustainability and        countries in the development process,
leverage. We must never stop        including lending instruments, policy
reminding ourselves that it is up to  formulation, and analytical work. Within
the government and its people to    each of these instruments, there are a
decide what their priorities should  variety of examples in which the Bank has
be. We must never stop reminding    achieved success in supporting
ourselves that we cannot and should    participatory processes in its development
not impose development by fiat      programs. While these are individual
from above -or from abroad."        examples, they tell a story of a trend
toward more support for participation in
Overview                              the Bank. It is clear, however, that there
are also obstacles to overcome and issues
2.   In 1994 the Board of Executive    to address before participation can be
Directors of the World Bank endorsed the  considered mainstreamed.
report "The World Bank and
Participation." This document set out a    4.   The record is specific to regions
working definition of participation as well and to sectors. For instance, participation
as an action plan to support and facilitate  seems to have been more internalized by
participation on a Bankwide level (see box  management in some regions than others,
1). Against the backdrop of a rapidly  widening the opening to pursue
changing world and significant changes in  participatory approaches in those regions.
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Participation and the World Bank
Participation at the country level also     was prepared in an effort to take stock of
varies greatly by region and country,       the Bank's experience in mainstreaming
depending on socioeconomic, historic,       participation, and to lay the groundwork
and cultural context. While examples of     for the next phase or generation of
participation exist in every sector, some of  participatory approaches. The paper is
the most interesting and effective          based on focus group/brainstorming
participatory initiatives have been in the    meetings with Bank staff representing five
rural sector, which tends, by nature of the   regions (Africa, East Asia and Pacific,
projects, to lend itself to participation, as    Europe and Central Asia, Latin America
well as in water and slum upgrading         and Caribbean, and South Asia); a desk
projects.                                   review of operations; and responses from
field offices to a set of questions. Staff who
Background and Methodology                  participated include task team leaders,
country operations officers, sector leaders,
5.    This paper was prepared as a          and social scientists.
submission to the international conference
on "Upscaling and Mainstreaming             6.    Input was sought generally on the
Primary Stakeholder Participation:          following questions:
Lessons Learned and Ways Forward." It
Box 1. Action Plan as Outlined in "World Bank and Participation" (1994)
1. The Bank will seek opportunities to support government efforts to promote a more enabling
environment for participatory development within client countries, by addressing participation in
policy dialogue, capacity-building programs, and public-sector management activities.
2. Regions will establish procedures and allocate resources for sharing responsibility for economic
and sector work (ESW) with government and a wider range of stakeholders.
3. Regions will ensure that lending operations and ESW include a process for identifying at an
early stage: (a) who the relevant stakeholders are, and (b) how they will be involved in the activity.
Documentation of projects and ESW will include brief descriptions of the participatory process.
4. The Bank will strengthen its capacity to support participation by providing participation-related
field-based learning opportunities and training programs for Bank staff and managers, and adjusting
the skill mix and attitudes at headquarters and in resident missions.
5. Through its regular budget processes, as well as by appropriate use of the Fund for Innovative
Approaches in Human and Social Development, the Bank will allocate resources to maintain innova-
tion, learning, and mainstreaming participation and will provide incentives and recognition to staff
who undertake participatory initiatives.
6. The Bank will provide institutional arrangements to support greater adoption of participation by
designating a group of senior managers to oversee the implementation of this action plan during its
first two years, continuing the Bank-wide learning group to provide a network for promoting partici-
patory initiatives, and supporting the establishment of an interagency collaborative learning group
on participation.
2



Introduction
* What are the achievements in        * Which types of stakeholder
mainstreaming participation since    identification have worked best in
1994?                                 which contexts?
* Where has the Bank fallen short; what  * What dimensions of the enabling
issues has the Bank not addressed?    environment facilitate which types of
participation?
* What are the supporting and
constraining factors?              * What types of participation work best
at different project phases?
* What are the issues and opportunities
to consider for the future?        Institutional Context
* What recommendations can we make   8.   The Bank is a lending institution
to support mainstreaming           with governments as its primary client. All
participation?                     of the Bank's work on participation must
be understood in this context. While the
7.   While this paper is a preliminary    Bank is having some success in convincing
review, the Operations Evaluation     governments to be more responsive to and
Department of the Bank (OED), an      accepting of participation, its track record
independent evaluation unit that reports   depends on the degree to which
on development impact and performance   governments are interested, supportive,
to the World Bank's Executive Directors,   and willing to invest in participation. The
has just begun an in-depth evaluation of   Bank has implemented numerous internal
the Bank's work on participation. It will be  institutional, procedural, and policy
both a process review and an impact   changes that are helping to support
evaluation. OED expects to complete the   participation. Projects, however,
evaluation in late 1999. Based on literature  ultimately belong to governments to
reviews, case studies, and data review, the  prepare and implement. This relationship
OED evaluation will aim to answer some   constitutes both the Bank's comparative
of the following questions:           advantage and the single largest constraint
to mainstreaming participation in its
* What types of participation work best  operations.
for which sectors and services?
3



2. Participation in Projects
9.    Many individual examples of Bank- constraints continue to make pursuing
financed projects being prepared and   participatory approaches difficult, the
implemented in a participatory manner    most important of which is the project
can be cited, as can cases in which    cycle that is considered by many to be too
participation is influencing project design  long and too rigid.
(see box 2). The number of projects that
have included social assessments,      11.   Although there are exceptions, in
beneficiary assessments, and other     most cases by the time a project is
participatory processes has increased  prepared -when most of the primary
steadily since the early 1990s.' The most   stakeholder consultation and/or
important institutional constraint to  participation takes place-its basic
mainstreaming participation in Bank-   framework has already been decided,
financed investments has been the cycle   typically through early policy work. If
for identifying, preparing, implementing,  policy formulation and analytical work
and monitoring projects. In an effort to  have not been conducted with broad-
address some of the problems associated   based participation, the projects and
with the project cycle, the Bank is    policies that emerge often do not reflect
supporting and adopting more innovative  the needs and priorities of the primary
and flexible lending instruments and is    stakeholders. One staff member
focusing more of its attention on capacity   commented: "Participation during
building for community institutions.   preparation results in some tinkering
around the edges of an already defined
Problems in the Project Cycle          project, when it is too late for primary
stakeholder views and concerns to be
10.   Staff who contributed to this paper  factored into project design."
report that stakeholder consultation in
project preparation has become routine.    12.   Additionally, given the nature of
As one staff member said: "People now  the Bank's project cycle, the expectations
understand that consultation and       of stakeholders who were consulted or
participation are key to project success."    who participated in some way during
Nonetheless, several institutional     preparation or identification are raised -
4



Participation in Projects
Box 2. The Effects of Consultation and Participation
As a result of consultation and participation, projects are more inclusive, involving key stakeholders
and including the traditionally marginalized; they are more socially sound, having more benefits and
fewer adverse social impacts; and they are more effective and sustainable, having more ownership
and better institutional arrangements at the country level.
Jamaica: Demand-Side Management Project. When NGOs questioned the project design, participatory
methods were used to facilitate problem-solving and determine actions acceptable to all parties.
Mechanisms were put in place to ensure that the problems identified did not resurface, and stakehold-
ers agreed to restructure their work program.
El Salvador: Education Projects. Through several participatory mechanisms, children and young
adults have been collaborating in the design of education projects in El Salvador. As a result, a fund
managed by children was created (Fondo Alegria) to finance activities chosen and managed by
students, such as choirs, reading clubs, reforestation campaigns, science fairs, leadership workshops,
and art festivals.
Lesotho: Highlands Water Project. As a result of working closely with civil society groups, project
authorities and donors have improved resettlement packages, enhanced the scope of rural develop-
ment for the project area to include host communities, and begun to restructure the use of project
royalties to ensure that they are used more equitably for development across the Kingdom of Lesotho.
Venezuela: Slum Upgrading Project. During preparation a team of social scientists conducted
extensive consultation with community groups, local NGOs, and residents in Caracas slums about
their values regarding their city, neighborhood, and homes. Results were consolidated into project
design. Implementation will be undertaken jointly by community groups, the private sector, and
government.
India: Irrigation Rehabilitation Project. A series of state-level loans for irrigation rehabilitation have
integrated participatory irrigation management (PIM) into the project. The state goverunment has
consolidated many of the diverse water-related agencies under a single Water Resources Department,
while at the same time divesting much of the irrigation management functions to user organizations.
Brazil: AIDS and STD Projects. Unprecedented civil society-government-Bank relations have turned
previously conflictual relationships into productive partnerships. In Curitiba, for example, this was
achieved after civil society organizations were brought into the process through an invitation to serve
on the Parana State AIDS Commission. With adequate information and frank dialogue, civil society
organizations learned more about the complexities of governing, and assumed greater responsibility
for AIDS policy in the state.
Kazakhstan: Irrigahon and Drainage Improvement Project. A social assessment for the project docu-
mented that workers on former collectives and state farms knew very little about their rights and
responsibilities in the farm privatization process. To ensure that beneficiaries had a role in making
decisions regarding irrigation investments and organization, a five-step process was developed that
engages all member of the farms in key decisions in the design and tendering process. This participa-
tory process has given some farm workers the courage to leave the old farm structure and to start their
own private farms.
Lithuania: Energy Efficiency Housing Project. After independence in Lithuania, individuals were
given ownership of their apartments, but few buildings developed institutional mechanisms to
manage common areas. Subsequently, energy costs skyrocketed. Based on a participatory pilot activ-
ity, the project will create and strengthen homeowners' associations and make funds available to them
to improve energy efficiency.
5



Participation and the World Bank
Box 2 (continued)
Indonesia: Kecamatan Development Project. This project uses block grants, bottom-up planning
procedures, open menus, and pervasive transparency to revitalize community development in
Indonesia. The project relies heavily on civil society oversight, and includes innovations such as
monitoring contracts for independent newspapers, website listings of all participating subdistricts,
and one-day provincial socialization courses for local journalists, researchers, and NGOs wishing to
track the project.
Palestinian NGO Project. Recognizing the embryonic stage of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and
the need to rely on NGOs to deliver essential social services, the project has established a trust fund
to: (a) deliver social services to the poor and marginalized, using NGOs as the delivery mechanism;
(b) improve the institutional capacity of NGO grantees; and (c) strengthen the working relationship
between the PA and the Palestinian NGO sector. Consultations with local and international NGOs
and donors were an essential part of project preparation. A service-delivery survey is being carried
out to identify community needs and NGO capabilities and achieve more effective outreach.
Latin America: Indigenous Peoples Capacity Building Initiative. Responding to what indigenous
peoples' organizations reported as the top priority of many of their communities - capacity build-
ing- the Bank developed an "Indigenous Peoples Capacity Building Initiative" consisting of a series
of individual proposals drafted jointly by Bank staff, national indigenous organizations, and cogni-
zant government institutions for grants from the Bank's Institutional Development Fund. From these
beginnings, the Bank was able to identify a number of potential investment projects, and, more
importantly, the places where ownership, capability, willingness, and resources were in place to put
together the World Bank's first indigenous development investments. Ongoing indigenous develop-
ment loans that grew out of the Capacity Building Initiative now exist in Ecuador, Mexico, and
Argentina.
sometimes as much as one to two years        been devoted to monitoring and
before any project action or progress can    evaluation and to evaluation capacity
be demonstrated. A tension, therefore, is    development-a key instrument of good
created by including participation at the    governance.
identification or pre-identification stage,
and thus raising primary stakeholder         Responses to Problems in the
expectation long before projects will begin  Project Cycle
activities.
14.   To address some of the problems
13.   Finally, the Bank's experience with   with participation and the project cycle,
primary stakeholder participaton during    the Bank has developed a variety of
supervision/monitoring  has been weak,    lending instruments that are flexible,
and is only recently beginning to show       iterative, and process-oriented. Social
signs of improvement. Participation of       Funds are now in their third or fourth
stakeholders in the design and               generation. Learning and Innovation
implementation of appropriate                Loans, and Adaptable Program Lending
monitoring and evaluation systems at the   are part of the new Bank-wide adaptable
project level has made little headway. Too  lending approach.
little attention and too few resources have
6



Participation in Projects
Social Funds                           development and participation over the
years, a number of adjustments have been
15.   Social Funds2 are becoming       made. Fund activities have shifted from
increasingly important lending         viewing community groups as vehicles for
instruments in the World Bank's efforts to  collecting local materials, providing labor,
reach the poor, especially in their demand  and conducting operations and
orientation and in their ability to increase   maintenance, to recognizing them as being
local-level capacity building, which are    in charge-with control and authority over
both important features of participation.    decisionmaking and resource allocation,
Social funds are designed as rapid,    including handling funds, procuring
demand-driven funding mechanisms that  materials, and hiring and firing contractors
channel resources to community-level   and other service providers. A number of
development projects according to a    funds routinely conduct beneficiary
predetermined set of criteria. Social Funds  assessments to obtain feedback from
finance subprojects proposed by other  community groups. Many projects
public, private, and voluntary (formal and  approved recently have a strong demand
informal) organizations. The social fund    orientation, which is key to achieving
portfolio is diverse and growing. The  long-term sustainability at the community
Bank had approved 51 social funds in 32   level. However, attention to investment in
countries, committing US$1 billion as of   local organizational capacity to achieve
the end of FY96. As of the same time, the   sustainability is still needed.
portfolio as a whole was identified as
"well-performing."                     Adaptable Lending Instruments
16.  Initially the value of social funds    18.   New adaptable lending
was seen primarily as their ability to  instruments were approved in 1997. The
transfer assets to the poor during periods   goal of adding to the Bank's existing array
of economic and political upheaval.    of lending instruments was to better adapt
Today, social funds are seen as        borrowers' differing needs and to move
instruments for contributing directly to    away from the tendency to fund
risk management at the community level   "blueprint" solutions, rather than be open
and social capital among the poor,     to the multiple alternatives that
through the engagement of community    participatory approaches imply.
groups in the creation and management of  Borrowers are also looking to the Bank for
local infrastructure, basic services, and  support for long-term institution-building
natural resources. This transition will only  for environmental agencies; people-
be complete, however, when fundamental  centered, participatory projects such as
changes in the design of social funds  urban upgrading; and post-conflict
toward participatory, demand-led       reconstruction. As a result, the Bank has
approaches that focus on building local    adopted such new instruments as
organizational capacity are achieved.  Learning and Innovation Loans (LILs) and
Adaptable Program Lending (APL).
17.   As social funds have attempted to
become more focused on community
7



Participation and the World Bank
19.   LILs are designed to support small, benchmarks for realizing the program's
time-sensitive programs to build capacity,  objectives. The World Bank Board of
pilot promising initiatives, or experiment  Executive Directors approves the first loan
and develop local models prior to larger-  and the long-term program agreement
scale interventions. A LIL incorporates  under which the full sequence of
opportunities for intensive monitoring  Adaptable Program Lending is prepared.
and evaluation, and includes the       Authority for approval of subsequent
opportunity to assess borrower capacity   loans in the sequence lies with Bank
and stakeholder response as part of the  management (subject to oversight and
learning process, when these are       review by the Board). APL is expected to
unknown. LILs are modest in size, not  be, on average, in the amount of US$50
exceeding US$5 million each. A key     million and last for three to five years, but
component of the instrument is that Bank   some are as large as US$200 million.
management has authority to approve
LILs, rather than the Bank's Board of  22.   The Rural Development in
Directors.                             Marginal Areas Project in Mexico, which
seeks to improve the well-being and
20.   A recent example of a LIL is the  income of smallholders in about 24
proposed Post-Conflict Social Recovery    targeted areas, is being implemented with
Project in Angola, which would test, in a   an APL approach, allowing a progressive
limited number of target areas, a program   geographic expansion of activities.
to support war- affected rural         Preparation and implementation of the
communities in their efforts to reintegrate  first phase of this APL loan has permitted
displaced people and revitalize        the government to establish the basis for
community-level economic and social    national development planning.
activities. In particular the project would
foster participation of those directly  Focus on Community Institutions
affected and devastated by war in
reconstruction decisions. The lessons  23.   A new generation of projects is also
gained from the experience of          making efforts to ensure effective
implementing the LIL are intended to   participation in management and
serve as a basis for the design of a larger   implementation. They aim to promote
post-conflict social project aimed at  inclusive and sustainable institutions that
enhancing the capacity of recipient    manage and sustain the development
comnmunities in war-affected rural areas to  process by moving beyond the
reestablish normal economic and social    conventional, target- oriented strategies to
activities.                            more holistic approaches: creating and
building partnerships, capacity building
21.   The APL provides phased and      of local institutions, and creating
sustained funding for implementation of a  synergies across sectors. These efforts are
long-term development program that     being exerted in many rural development,
reflects economic priorities and poverty    water supply and sanitation, and poverty
reduction. Under APL, loans are phased    reduction projects. Such programs aim to
according to agreed milestones and     achieve effective targeting by fostering
8



Participation in Projects
local ownership, developing local       development programs is aimed at
partners, and facilitating the creation of    strengthening linkages with community-
enabling environments that provide      managed systems. The development of
transparent and accountable mechanisms   community-managed systems and
for delivery and distribution of goods,    institutions has led to initiatives for
services, and resources at the community  reforming and reorienting public-service
level.                                  agencies to enhance their effectiveness in
delivering public goods, which has led to
24.   These community-focused projects  renegotiation of their missions and
have promoted a range of initiatives,   objectives.
including development of partnerships for
conservation and joint management of    25.   The Bank's Quality Assurance
natural resources through water user    Group (QAG) is working on the
associations, joint forest management   development of indicators to measure
associations, and women's self-help     progress in achieving the objectives of
groups. The focus on decentralization and  sustainable and effective institution
more effective local government in the  building.
Africa Region visible in most new rural
9



3. Participation in Policy and
Analytical Work
26.  While the 1994 participation    review and consultations with regional
document was focused primarily on    staff identified 26 as "participatory." An
primary stakeholder participation, the  in-depth review of 22 of the 26 (4 were
Bank's greatest strides with regard to  dropped due to lack of information)
participation lie in policy formulation.    revealed that 10 of them: (a) included
Country assistance strategies (CASs) are   extensive consultation with a broad array
now being undertaken with more broad-   of civil society stakeholders, (b) involved
based and systematic consultation and  civil society in the planning of the
participation, and major policy reviews    exercise, (c) reached out to rural areas, and
are being conducted in a participatory  (d) planned feedback or follow-up. This
manner. To integrate social policies and    represented 45 percent of the 22
ensure consistency between them, work is  participatory CASs and 21 percent of all 47
currently underway to draft a policy on    CASs in the sample. Twelve of the 22
social analysis that would indicate when   participatory cases (55 percent) had some
and how participatory approaches and  degree of participation, representing 26
social assessments should be carried out.  percent of the total sample.
Country Assistance Strategy          28.  Clear and direct impacts of
consultation in the CAS process are
27.  The CAS3 is the Bank's main     increasingly being recognized (see box 3).
vehicle for designing its program to  In over half of the CASs that incorporated
support sustainable development in a  consultative mechanisms, Bank staff noted
member country, taking into account the   that the approach had direct identifiable
country's specific needs and conditions.   impacts on the CAS, primarily on policy
The findings of a review of FY97-98 CASs  formulation, strategy focus, and
show that a significant increase in the use  institutional capacity. For example, the
of participatory or consultative processes  primary focus of the Colombia CAS was
in CAS has occurred since a smaller  changed to address issues of violence and
survey was undertaken two years ago. of  public insecurity. In Madagascar the sense
the 47 CASs approved by the Board in  of exclusion felt by the coastal and
FY97 and the first half of FY98, a desk  minority population in high plateaus was
10



Participation in Policy and Analytical Work
identified, leading to a stronger focus on    CAS led to more informed development
partnership and decentralization in the  priorities for the country, as well as better-
CAS.                                     coordinated development efforts. In
Guinea, for instance, participation in the
29.   The majority of staff responsible for  CAS led to the identification of
these CASs felt that the benefits of     governance (justice and security,
incorporating civil society participation in  reconciliation and tolerance, democracy,
the process significantly outweighed the    transparency, decentralization and gender
costs. They felt that participation in the  equality) as one of the five priority
Box 3. How Participation and Consultation Contribute to a CAS
* The Kenya CAS changed from viewing participation as an instrumental process
confined to the preparation of the CAS, to seeing participation as a long-term strat-
egy to articulate the goals and achieve the objectives of public-sector reform.
* The Guatemala CAS deals with the inclusion of the country's indigenous people in
the process of economic growth and development as its central issue. Bank staff have
worked with stakeholders to design operational mechanisms for the implementation
of key elements of the Peace Accords signed by the former combatants to ensure
indigenous participation in the development process.
* The Bolivia CAS addresses the process of inclusion for the poor and indigenous
people through its focus on themes of opportunity, institutional development, and
equity.
* The Tajikistan CAS addresses issues of social accord and peace-building in a post-
conflict context through equitable growth and targeted poverty reduction in areas
controlled both by the government and the former opposition.
* The Mongolia CAS addresses inclusion of women as a major theme.
* The Papua New Guinea CAS recognizes explicitly the distinctive social and cultural
nature of PNG, particularly the existence of a fragmented social terrain, the "big
man" complex, and the implications of these factors for the structure of the modern
nation state.
* The CAS for Yemen draws on extensive dialogue with prominent Yemeni social
scientists to design a reform process that will be socially sustainable.
* The Vietnam CAS is being prepared based on sector strategy notes that. have been
discussed with NGOs who were invited to share their perspective on poverty.
* The Bangladesh CAS focuses on institutional aspects of economic growth and pov-
erty reduction, with a specific focus on the role of civil society and private-sector
institutions in the delivery of basic services and infrastructure development.
* The Nepal CAS focuses on institutional weaknesses that contribute to exclusion
(gender, caste, and ethnicity) and is anchoring its approach in successful examples of
decentralization of decisionmaking and resource allocation.
'11



Participation and the World Bank
development issues. Staff also felt that  Participatory Review Initiative (SAPRI),
participatory CASs were a method of    has been officially launched in
bringing those who had traditionally been  Bangladesh, Hungary, and Uganda. Other
marginalized into the development      countries involved in the exercise,
process.                               (Ecuador, Ghana, Mali, and Zimbabwe),
are organizing public forum launches in
30.   Until recently, CASs have been   November and December of 1998.
confidential. As civil society participation
in their preparation has grown, there has   33.   A national steering committee
been increasing pressure for disclosure. In  composed of representatives of NGOs,
August 1998 the Board agreed that (a) civil labor unions, farmers' associations,
society consultations were to be       women's groups, chambers of commerce,
encouraged in preparing a CAS; (b) after   manufacturers' associations, and churches,
Board discussion of the CAS, and with  as well as government ministries and the
consent of the government, the Bank    World Bank, has been set up in each
should release a Public Information    participating country to coordinate the
Notice describing the main elements of    review. Each country team will investigate
the CAS; and (c) henceforth, when     the effects of adjustment by: (a) organizing
governments so request, the Bank may   public fora, (b) conducting a field
fully disclose the CAS.                investigation into the impacts of selected
adjustment policies, and (c) summarizing
Policy Consultations                   the existing literature on adjustment in
that country. The country case studies will
31.   The Bank is undertaking several    look at the effects of policies on all social
major policy reviews, which are being  groups - both winners and losers - with
conducted in a consultative and        particular emphasis given to impacts on
participatory manner. Examples include   those who have not benefited and not
the Structural Adjustment Participatory    participated in the policymaking process.
Review Initiative, the Forest Policy
Implementation Review and Strategy, and  34.   Concrete actions related to changes
the Indigenous Peoples Operational    in national adjustment policies, the
Directive Review.                      opening of the adjustment-planning
process to broad local participation, and
Structural Adjustment Participatory    modifications in the Bank's own research
Reviewv Initiative                    instruments will be on the agenda. The
findings and follow-up actions of the
32.   The World Bank, in conjunction   participating countries will be presented
with national governments and a        and discussed with senior Bank
worldwide network of almost 1,000 civil   management and policymakers at a
society organizations, launched an     concluding national public forum and at a
exercise in 1997 to assess the economic  closing international public forum.
and social impact of structural adjustment
policies in seven countries. The project,   35.   SAPRI has been an important
known as the Structural Adjustment     initiative for demonstrating partnership
12



Participation in Policy and Analytical Work
between the Bank and NGOs, and for     Implementation Review and Strategy is
developing an understanding of each    being conducted in an open, consultative
parties' institutional realities. The Bank  manner designed to seek input and
has made documentation available to its   feedback from key stakeholders. The main
NGO partners, and the national forums    objectives of the process are to:
organized by SAPRI are bringing a variety
of stakeholders together, which is both  * Listen to and consider views of all key
informing the initiative and generally   forest-related constituencies and ensure
resulting in better communication and    that they have reasonable opportunity
partnerships between and among           for involvement in the policy review
government, NGOs, and the Bank. The      and strategy development process
SAPRI NGOs have been particularly
successful in getting grassroots       * Identify the broader set of issues that
representatives included in the national  impact on forest resources in Bank
forums.                                  client countries and related sectors,
including consideration of alternatives
36.   While all sides agree that this is an  for addressing these issues
important initiative, it has not been
without problems. Both sides would     * Assess stakeholder perspectives on the
agree that the process has taken longer  Bank's comparative advantage as an
than either would have anticipated or    input to developing an appropriate
liked. Both sides also agree that the local  strategy.
committees must lead the process, with
strong direction from civil society groups,  38.   Components of the process include
particularly on the choice of issues to  a World Wide Web Site, country and
tackle. The still quite challenging aspect of regional stakeholder consultations,
the project lies in the fieldwork. All sides  technical advisory group(s) that may be
must agree on what constitutes         formed, and a concluding meeting on
"evidence," and this is where all parties    completion of the World Bank's OED
are hoping to learn new approaches to  Review and Strategy.
understanding the issues and new ways in
which policies can become more effective.  Indigenous Peoples Operational
Policy Revision
Forest Policy Implementation Review
39.   The World Bank was the first
37.   The World Bank is conducting a   multilateral financial institution to
Forest Policy Implementation Review and  introduce a special policy for the
developing a strategy to guide its work in  treatment of indigenous or tribal peoples
the forest sector. The Bank recognizes the   in development projects. Currently, the
need to place its role in forest activities in   World Bank is in the process of revising
perspective and more in conjunction with  its operational policy on indigenous
that of other stakeholders engaged in the   peoples in order to clarify certain aspects
forest sector. Thus the Forest Policy
13



Participation and the World Bank
of existing policy and improve future  agencies. One of most prominent ways
implementation. For that purpose a   that the Bank is integrating participation
Working Group comprised of social and   in analytical work is through Participatory
legal experts in the World Bank and the    Poverty Assessments (PPAs).
International Finance Corporation was  Additionally, by December 1997, a work
formed to revise the policy. The Working   program including research on social
Group has produced an Approach Paper,  development had been developed within
which outlines a strategy and set of  the Poverty Reduction and Economic
recommendations for revising the policy.  Management Network, and a
collaborative work program had been
40.  As part of the revision process, the   proposed for the World Development
Working Group is conducting broad    Report 2001 on poverty.
consultations on the Approach Paper, the
main objectives of which are to generate   Participatory Poverty Assessments
greater understanding of World Bank
policy; clarify certain critical aspects of the  42.  To strengthen the link between the
current policy, and obtain a wide range of  Bank's assistance strategy and country
perspectives on the Approach Paper and   efforts to reduce poverty, the Bank
the changes it recommends. The Working   undertakes country-specific analysis of
Group will obtain the views of various  poverty in the form of poverty
interested parties, both within and outside  assessments. Income and consumption
the World Bank. This includes Bank staff  data and education and health status are
members responsible for ensuring     core elements of the analysis of poverty
compliance with Bank policies, as well as  usually based on the results of household
various stakeholders in the Bank's   questionnaire surveys. Participatory
Borrower countries. Among the latter, the  poverty assessments (PPAs) use
views of indigenous peoples and their    participatory research methods working
organizations are particularly important.   with individuals, groups, households,
Government officials responsible for  and communities with the objective of
providing services to indigenous     understanding poverty from the
communities, academic specialists, NGOs, perspective of the poor by focusing on
and private-sector entities will also be  their realities, needs, and priorities.4
consulted.
43.  PPAs are responding to the
Analytical Work                      challenge of inclusion by directly
presenting the views of the poor to
41.  Participation is also making    policymakers, both in client countries and
inroads into the Bank's economic and  in the Bank. While participatory
sector work. One example is the energy    approaches have been used by social
sector strategy forum for Eastern Europe   scientists for some time in project work,
and Central Asia, sponsored by the Bank   their use for policy analysis is new. After
and attended by representatives from a    five years and 43 PPAs, the Bank is
large number of countries and donor  learning many lessons that broaden its
14



Participation in Policy and Analytical Work
understanding of both poverty and the  impoverishment, and rank their priorities.
policy formulation process.            Until now the policy dialogue has been
dominated by income and consumption
44.   PPAs use participatory research  measures of poverty; PPAs are enhancing
methods working with individuals,      this analysis by providing other insights
groups, households, and communities    on the nature of poverty.
with the objective of understanding
poverty from the perspective of the poor,  47.   While it is not yet possible to fully
by focusing on their needs and priorities.  assess the impacts of PPAs, most appear
The objective of the PPA is to ensure that  to have achieved the goal of deepening
intended beneficiaries have some control   understanding of poverty and some have
over the research process, and that    achieved a positive impact on policy
communities share their knowledge and    formulation. For the wider impact to be
are involved in analyzing the results.  achieved, however, PPAs need to be seen
not just as tools for data collection but
45.   Over the past few years the      also as an approach to influencing policy.
percentage of PPAs in poverty          To achieve this goal PPAs need to:
assessments has increased. One-fifth of the
Bank's poverty assessment completed in    * Use participatory techniques for
FY94 included a PPA. In FY95, this figure  diagnosis or understanding both the
rose to one-third, and in FY96-98,        policy environment and the ability/
approximately one-half of all Bank        willingness of institutions to deliver
poverty assessments included a PPA. The   the evolving policy
extent and quality of participation has,
however, varied extensively. Some PPAs   * Build the capacity of some institutions
have been criticized for limited         to use participatory methods for
participation, especially where surveys   implementation and delivery of the
were quick (less than two weeks of field  policy, and include those who will
research in some countries) and the results    implement the policy in its process of
were not fed back to communities. In      formulation
others the quality of participation has
been questioned. Although              * Initiate appropriate partnerships and
"participatory" research methods may      linkages between and within formal
have been used, the research teams have   and informal networks and
sometimes adopted a dominant role,        institutions.
undermining potential participation and
resulting in more strict data extraction  World Development Report 2001
than participation.
48.  "Consultations with the Poor" is a
46.   PPAs, nonetheless, deepen the    study currently being plained to serve as
Bank's understanding of poverty by     an input to the World Development Report
enabling the poor to highlight dimensions  2001 on poverty. It is designed to enable a
of poverty, explain the processes of   wide range of poor people in diverse
15



Participation and the World Bank
countries and conditions to contribute to    need for a deeper understanding of
the concepts and content of the VVDR-2001.  participation among Bank staff. In
The study focuses on poor peoples'       response to this need the Bank published
perceptions in three areas: well-being and  its Participation Sourcebook5, which
ranking of problems and concerns; trends   provides case studies, pointers, and
and changes over time (relating to       methods for Bank staff who are pursuing
vulnerability, exclusion, risk, opportunity,  participatory initiatives and has been
crime and violence); and institutional and   widely distributed both in and outside the
power relations. There are two           Bank. The Bank has also expanded its
components to the study. The first is an  analytical work with a series of papers on
extensive literature review of           participation in various sectors
participatory poverty assessments and    (education, forestry, irrigation,
other Bank and external studies that use    agricultural extension, water and
participatory and qualitative methods.   sanitation) and themes (gender,
Second, new qualitative and participatory  indigenous people, economic and sector
field studies will be carried out in some    work, poverty assessments, social funds,
twenty countries.                        and NGOs). Closely related to
participation, the Bank has also increased
Analytical Tools                         work on social capital, community-based
development, local-level institutions,
49.   The Bank's shift toward the        indigenous people, gender, and social
inclusion of social issues has created the    integration.
16



4. Institutional and In-Country Constraints
50.   A variety of underlying factors  participatory approaches in lending
contribute to the difficulties that Bank staff operations.
face in pursuing more broad-based
participation. In relation to their efforts to  53.   Management support for
expand opportunities for participation,    participation varies greatly across regions.
staff who were involved in preparation of  In the South Asia Region, for instance,
this paper expressed the concerns noted    upper-level management support is
below.                                 strong, and sector leaders share an
understanding of the importance of these
Institutional Constraints             issues. This has legitimized existing work
at the task team levels. In other regions,
51.   Among the most serious           however, staff said during focus groups
institutional constraints identified by  that country managers and sector leaders
Bank staff were the uneveness of support  were not dedicating adequate resources
for participation at the management level,  (time and money) to participation issues.
the limited resources available in for  In this sense, there is an opening for
participation activities, and continuing  participation within the Bank, but it has
skepticism about the value-added of   not been mainstreamed across the
participation, given the lack of verifiable   institution.
indicators.
54.  Finally, some staff report feeling
Management Support                    the need to meet lending targets. This is
reflected even at the project level. A recent
52.   Despite support from the top levels  review of social funds in Africa found that
of Bank management, Bank staff are quick  end-users felt that the driving force was
to point out that the degree of       speed and efficiency at the expense of
commitment to participation still depends  participation and sustainability.
largely on individual staff. While the
situation varies greatly among regions, in  Resource Limitations
most regions, team leaders feel that with
the "right" country director or the "right"  55.  Since 1994 the Bank has set up
manager, they get support, in the form of   several funds to support participatory and
both money and time, to pursue         consultative initiatives that would enable
17



Participation and thie World Bank
the perspectives of primary stakeholders   *  Given tight budgets, team leaders
to be incorporated into project design and   sometimes hire less expensive staff or
analytical work. These have included the    consultants.
Fund for Innovative Approaches to
Human and Social Development, which      *  Projects that are complex to supervise
provided more than US$4.2 million in         are often given the same budget as
funds over three years to support projects  those that are simple.
and staff with participation skills; and the
Client Consultation Fund in Africa, which   *  Sometimes technical specialists are
supported activities ranging from            excluded; social scientists may be the
stakeholder workshops to participatory      first to get cut.
assessment of stakeholder priorities and
levels of satisfaction with services. The  *  Not all clients countries have the same
funds introduced a wide range of             implementation capacity, especially in
consultative methods in a number of the      terms of participatory approaches, yet
region's active borrowers.                  budgets do not reflect the differences.
Weak supervision can compromise
56.   In March 1997 the Strategic           results on the ground.
Compact was approved, providing
incremental resources to strengthen core    *  Tight budgets threaten the continuity
operational services, including             needed for policy and institutional
participation and social sustainability, as  work. Such work requires constant
well as to help implement regional social    dialogue with stakeholders, yet
development action plans. Specifically,     budgets may not reflect this.
the Strategic Compact allocated US$10
million in incremental resources to the  *  Because country directors (CDs) now
regions to promote social assessment and     control the budgets, if the CD is
participation in operational work and to    interested in participation, then the
identify and address key social issues that  team leader has a mandate and
should be reflected in ESW and CASs.         support for participation; but if the CD
is not interested, the team leader has
57.   Despite these special funds, since     little recourse.
1994, the first year of budget cuts,
operations staff feel that they have been  59.   Staff also report having to invest
working with less money. Given that Bank  large amounts of time seeking trust fund
operations are more complicated than     money to pay for participation specialist
they used to be, with more participatory    input to projects or important
mandates and more stakeholders, budget   participatory planning activities, such as
constraints work against participation.  social assessments or beneficiary
Supervision is also suffering.           assessments. Trust funds, however, are
usually restricted to project preparation,
58.   The following constraints were said  and the administrative burden of
to affect participation in important ways:
18



Institutional and In-Country Constraints
managing funds from multiple trust funds  functional in nature, rather than the type
is high. The Pakistan Social and        of participation that empowers primary
Environment Program was prepared with  stakeholders to make their own
broad-based and systematic consultation   development decisions. Additionally the
and participation, but this was only    experience tends toward soliciting
possible because it had a large         primary stakeholder participation in
preparation budget including Bank funds,  decisionmaking on one or two distinct
trust funds, and Japanese grant funds.  points rather than throughout the project
cycle.
Consultation vs. Participation
Evidence of Value Added of Participation
60.  In "The World Bank and
Participation" participation was defined    63.   Several issues should be
as "a process through which stakeholders  considered in assessing the value-added
influence and share control over        of participation, not the least of which is
development initiatives and the decisions  that the Bank does not have convincing
and resources which affect them." Over    evidence that it exists. No mechanism has
time other distinctions have been made  yet been devised to assess the value of
with regard to the continuum of         participation as a process or a factor in
participation. That is, the Bank began to    achieving development impact. The proof
recognize several stages of participation:   is only impressionistic. The inability to
information sharing, consultation,      show the value-added of participation in
collaboration and, finally, empowerment.  concrete terms has led to skepticism
regarding the trade-off in value versus
61.   While focus groups reflected      costs (time and money).
agreement that participation is better
understood throughout the Bank, there   64.   Second, in many cases staff report
still exists a tendency to call any activity   that consultation and participation take
along the continuum of participation    place in some form, but that the results are
(information sharing to consultation to  not factored into project design or
participation) "participation.'         implementation in a meaningful way. In
Information sharing and consultation    this case, the value-added of participation
occur more frequently than participation   is marginal.
in decisionmaking or implementation.
Many project examples could be cited in   65.   Last, staff express the sentiment
which primary stakeholders were         that, while participation in some sectors
consulted as to project components or   and some regions is more routine,
implementation strategy, but did not    questions as to quality remain. That is,
participate in the identification/selection   there is no standard for what constitutes
of project components. Yet these projects   good quality consultation or participation.
are still referred to as "participatory."  In this respect, a project may appear to be
participatory, but if the participation is
62.   When projects do support          not systematic and rigorous, it may be of
participation, it is largely task-based and   very little use to the primary stakeholder
19



Participation and the World Bank
or the project managers. Furthermore,  69.   Last, while partnerships with civil
little time and attention are given to  society actors continue to be very
preparing a participation plan to guide  productive and important in many
and sustain participation as a process over contexts, there is a sense that NGOs in the
the life of the project.               field are in danger of being over-financed
and do not have the capacity to
In-Country Constraints                implement the assigned tasks and
programs. NGOs are not a homogeneous
66.   The Bank has learned that no one    group and do not have the same
partner can know everything that needs to  implementation capacity and ability.
be done to achieve the goal of alleviating   Some staff feel that projects have suffered
poverty. Therefore, the Bank encourages   because of a lack of capacity building
governments to reach out to other actors,   within civil society, especially NGOs.
such as civil society and the private sector,
to help in the development process. NGO   Government Commitment
capacity and government commitment,
however, are proving to be key         70.   The biggest single constraint and
constraints.                           challenge to the Bank's ability to pursue
participation across all its operations is
NGO Capacity                           governrnent comrnmitment. The Bank is
constrained to a large extent by its articles
67.   Operational collaboration,       of agreement, which mandate it to work
especially between the Bank, borrowers    with governments of client countries. The
and NGOs, has increased. Although      projects belong to the government to
statistics are limited, a recent review  prepare and implement. Staff report
reports that nearly one-half of all projects  feeling that "participation is constrained
approved in FY97 (47 percent) either   by the degree to which the government is
include some involvement of NGOs or    interested, supportive, and willing to
planned to do so during implementation,  pursue it." Because of this relationship,
and that there is a consistent upward  the respective roles and responsibilities of
trend of in upstream involvement of   the Bank and the government with regard
NGOs in operations.                    to participation are easily blurred,
especially if a government is not
68.   Much remains to be done, however, committed to participation and the Bank
in engaging NGOs meaningfully. Many    must struggle against that tide.
Bank procedures provide for working
with NGOs, but staff frequently do not  71.   Because of the Bank's articles of
use this flexibility to the fullest extent.  agreement, governments are, in a strict
Additionally, when rigidly applied, Bank  sense, its only clients. Some staff,
procedures may overwhelm the           however, feel that the poor, who are
administrative capacity of NGOs and    meant to be the ultimate beneficiaries of
neutralize their comparative advantage as  project interventions, should be
responsive and flexible innovators.
20



Institutional and In-Country Constraints
considered the Bank's primary clients.    included in project budgets or that it be
One staff member asked: "Shouldn't        paid under recurrent cost financing from
governments and the Bank be partners in   the government. An additional obstacle is
delivering services to the clients -the   that openness to participation at the
primary stakeholders?"                    central level is often not translated to the
local level, where many project activities
72.   In many cases, Bank staff are       are located.
struggling with participation in
goverrunent agencies where there is little   73.   Finally, some governments are
incentive to pursue participatory         either uninterested in, or actively
methods. Governments often do not have   discourage the existence of, NGOs and
the needed skills and are reluctant to    other civil society associations.
spend loan money on participation. The    Partnerships are therefore hard to form
Bank rarely insists that participation be  and can be risky.
21



5. Institutional Responses
74.   The Bank has made strides in    assessment, and social dimensions of ESW
reorienting its culture away from the  and CASs, among other things. During its
"right answer" mentality and toward a  first year, the Social Development Family
more open-minded and process-oriented   set objectives with the intention of
approach. As one staff member noted:  providing building blocks for future
"We no longer look for technical solutions  growth and development. These
to sociological problems." The changes    objectives included integration and
fall into two broad categories -human  mainstreaming of social analysis,
resource changes, and policy and      participation, and gender considerations
procedural changes.                   into operational work and incorporating
social analysis and participation into
Investments in Human Resource    CASs and sector work.
75.  The Bank can be said to have     77.  At the regional level, Sector
invested in human resources at three  Management Units for Social
levels. First, the creation of the Social  Development have been created and
Development Family was intended to    senior technical specialists have been
offer all Bank staff guidance on issues  appointed to head these units. To support
such as participation. Second, important   the expanded work program, the number
changes were made in the staff and    of social scientists is growing. In
structure of resident missions. And third,  September 1998 the Social Development
the Bank has instituted a series of training  Family had 169 staff including 118 in the
courses for staff to increase understanding  regions, 32 in the anchor, and 19 in other
of social issues.                     sections of the Bank. Of these staff, about
three-quarters are social scientists
Social Development Family and Netw7ork  (including economists) and one-quarter
are trained in other areas. More than 40
76.  In January 1997 the Social       percent are developing country nationals.
Development Family was formed with    Lastly, a participation thematic team
responsibility for providing technical  coordinator has recently taken up that
guidance on social development,       post and is pursuing an ambitious
especially participation, social      workplan.
22



Institutional Responses
78.   Over the last five years,          Local knowledge of the NGO sector has
collaboration has increased within the   proven essential in building strong
Bank in setting up cross-sectoral thematic   partnerships which contribute to
groups, including integration of         participatory development, poverty
participation with other key, related    reduction and social inclusion. The NGO
themes. Some of the recent initiatives   Specialists have come to represent a
include the setting up of thematic groups   considerable proportion of the Bankwide
on community-based rural development,   Social Development Family. At the end of
decentralization, and social capital.    FY98, 71 resident missions had staff
Membership in these groups cuts across    specifically assigned to work on NGO/
areas of expertise, sectors, and regions  civil society issues.
enabling cross-learning and leading to
active collaboration.                    82.   The role of the specialists varies
greatly between regions. In Africa, Asia,
79.   Finally, the reorganization of the  and Latin America, depending
Bank in 1996-97 has led to increased use of significantly on the resident
task teams that integrate a variety of skills. representative's attitude, they are
Social scientist and participation       involved in substantive social
specialists are increasingly part of Bank  development work. This has been
teams preparing projects. Additionally, in  problematic in some countries where the
at least one region the management team's  specialists are not trained social scientists,
performance will be determined based on   yet they are expected to be able to
the performance of the team as a whole    function as if they were. In the Eastern
rather than only individuals.            Europe and Central Asian countries, in
large part due to the sociopolitical context
Resident Mission Staff                   of the region, the NGO specialists act
primarily as public relations and outreach
80.   The Bank's focus on                officers, and have had reasonable success
decentralization of its staff has resulted in  in that role.
better client relations and more listening.
The increased accessibility of Bank staff,   Skills Training
combined with increased exposure of
staff to the daily challenges of supervising  83.   Training courses are held regularly
Bank-supported operations, has resulted   in headquarters to introduce task team
in increased understanding of and        leaders to social assessment concepts and
appreciation for participation of all    participatory methods. Training is also
relevant stakeholders.                   taking place at resident mnissions around
the world. Regular workshops are held for
81.   Additionally, in order to guide and  Bank social scientists to sharpen their
facilitate the growing interaction between   skills. An internal help desk and the
the Bank and civil society organizations,   Bank's Intranet have facilitated the
NGO Specialists6 have been appointed in   dissemination of good practice in
many World Bank resident missions.       participation, including sample terms of
23



Participation and the World Bank
reference, best practice case examples, and  financial, and marketing skills in the
practitioner contact information. A CD-    Africa, Middle East and North Africa, and
ROM electronic guidebook on social    Latin America and Caribbean Regions,
assessment is being developed for     and in India. EDI is also offering social
counterparts and consultants in the field.   assessment training in client countries.
84.  The Bank's Economic Development Procedures and Policies
Institute (EDI), which was created to
provide training in economic and social   86.  The World Bank has also revisited
development to government leaders,    many of the procedures and policies that
representatives from the private sector,    have guided its work in the past. Among
nongovernmental organizations, and other the changes most relevant to work on
civil society actors, has continued to  participation are Bank efforts to shift the
contribute to the Bank's growing body of   orientation of its project evaluations,
knowledge in the area of participation,    simplify and streamline procurement and
partnership, and capacity building. For    disbursement procedures and policies,
example, in response to interest expressed  and broaden its disclosure policy.
both within the Bank and in a number of
borrowing countries, EDI has initiated a    Evaluation Onientation
five-phase program on participatory
irrigation management. The overall    87.  In its 1997 Annual Report on
purpose of this program is to stimulate    Operations Evaluation, the Operations
high-level policy dialogue on         and Evaluation Department (OED)
participatory irrigation management   recommended a shift toward results-
within the country, leading to policy  based management (RBM) in the Bank,
commitment and programmatic action.    and away from a "management-by-
objectives" strategy. RBM concentrates on
85.  Another EDI initiative, the Building  results (outcome and impacts) rather than
Partnerships for Poverty Reduction   inputs and outputs; is designed to fit
program, supports capacity building and   decentralized agencies; and is adaptable
networking among NGOs in Latin       to changing operating environments.
America and aims to increase the      Results-based management is highly
participation of citizens, civic      relevant to the Bank at this juncture
organizations, and businesses in the  because it fits the new development
design and implementation of antipoverty  agenda, which addresses a wide range of
policies and programs. Similarly, the  stakeholder expectations, emphasizes
Grassroots Management Training and the   development effectiveness and
Banking With The Poor (microfinance   accountability, and supports ongoing
institution-building) programs are    change in the Bank toward results on the
collaborating with NGOs and government  ground, transparency, and participation.
agencies to develop awareness-raising
and training programs for             88.  Stakeholder participation in Bank
microentrepreneurs in management,     evaluations has traditionally been weak.
24



Institutional Responses
One of the key recommendations of the   Although the misconception that Bank
1997 OED report is a broadening of      policies and guidelines prevent economic
stakeholder participation, the aim of   and efficient community/NGO-based
which would be to ensure that           arrangements is still common, many credit
stakeholders conduct evaluations        agreements now include reference to these
collaboratively, develop a common       special procedures.
understanding of outcomes, share
responsibility for results, and take steps to Information Disclosure Policy
internalize lessons.
91.   The Bank's information disclosure
89.   To enhance participation in FY98,   policy has been a matter of concern to
the Bank has been seeking systematic    NGOs and civil society in general for a
feedback from stakeholders via Bankwide  number of years. It is as a result of this
and country-level surveys, helping      dialogue that the Bank instituted policy
borrowers strengthen their own          changes. Specifically, the Board of
evaluation capacity, and promoting      Executive Directors agreed on a new
evaluation partnerships with other      policy that expands access to Bank
donors. Further attention is needed to  information, which came into effect in
bring stakeholder participation to a    January 1994. The new policy introduced
satisfactory level in self-evaluation and  a "presumption in favor of disclosure" -
independent evaluation, and follow-up is  under which information is to be shared
required to promote shared              unless there is reason not to. The policy
understanding and increased capacity at   also led to the creation of the Public
all levels.                            Information Center at Bank headquarters
in Washington, D.C.
Procurement and Disbursement
92.   New elements of the policy
90.   The Bank has implemented          included agreement to make the following
procedural changes that are more       types of documents available to the
supportive to primary stakeholder       public: project information documents for
participation. Some of the most         all projects under preparation; staff
fundamental changes are in procurement   appraisal reports, unless the government
and disbursement guidelines, allowing   objects; precis by the Operations
for direct contracts with community-based  Evaluation Department; environmental
organizations and direct disbursements    assessments, analyses, and action plans,
from special accounts (a project prirnary    unless the government objects; final
account) to community accounts. These    results of economic and sector work;
guidelines now provide sufficient       sectoral policy papers; and legal opinions
flexibility to allow projects designers and   of the General Counsel. All of this
planners to involve community groups or  information is now available on the web.
NGOs in providing, supplying,
contracting, or procuring goods, works,    93.   Subsequently, civil society interest
and services in Bank-financed activities.   in 'problem projects" led to at least two
25



Participation and the World Bank
modifications. First, there was an      information is disclosed. Many civil
agreement to make public "factual and   society organizations now look to the
technical information" on projects,     Bank as a key source of information about
including preparing a list of such      what is going on in their countries. As a
documents. Governments would be asked  result of demonstrating to governments
to share these documents when they are    that an increased information flow leads
government, rather than World Bank,     to better participation and more consen-
property. Second, operational policies and  sual decisions, some governments are
Bank procedures are now available to the   beginning to disclose information that
public. Good practice documents are also  they used to hold as confidential. This
shared publicly in most cases, although    trend will also contribute to the fight
this is not policy.                     against corruption. For instance, in one
East Asian country the government has
94.   The increase in information disclo-   agreed to publish in national newspapers
sure is particularly relevant to participa-   all contracts that are signed in relation to
tion. In many countries very little official   World Bank-assisted projects.
26



6. Conclusions and Emerging Issues
95.  It is noteworthy that in 1996 the key  * A considerable range of initiatives can
messages that emerged from a series of  be distinguished that share the aims of
meetings on incentives and disincentives  improving mutual communication
for Bank staff to use participatory     between beneficiaries, government
approaches echo many of the same        implementing agencies, and the Bank
messages that were heard during this    and of increasing the influence of a
recent exercise. For instance, in 1996, staff  wider range of stakeholders in the
said that:                              planning and implementation of
operations.
* Participation is widespread, but thin.
* A variety of tools and methods have
* Managers need to see evidence that    been used to initiate or facilitate
will convince them that participation is    participation.
worth it.
* The scale and purpose of investments,
* Shortening timelines conflicts with  the nature of goods and services to be
participatory efforts.               produced, and the sociopolitical
environment all influence the choice of
* With budget cuts, participation and   most suitable type and level of
other social science skills are being cut,    participation. It is not possible to
or are only used when Trust Funds can    generalize on this topic.
be secured.
* Although increasing in number,
* Participation efforts run counter to the  participatory approaches are far from
Bank's "expert" culture and the      being general to the Bank's work.
emphasis on quick disbursement.
* The breadth (the number of
Conclusions                             stakeholder included) and the depth
(degree of control stakeholders gain
96.  Some broad conclusions can be      over outcomes) of participation vary
drawn from this review:                 considerably between initiatives and
regions.
27



Participation and the World Bank
Emerging Issues                        * It will be imperative to develop
convincing evidence to demonstrate
97.  Issues that are emerging as the      the value-added in terms of, for
Bank moves forward include:               example, reduced risk, improved
performance, and increased
* Given that many of the institutional    ownership. This will be the key to
constraints, such as limited resources  convincing governments that
and time, will always be present, how  participation is an effective
can the Bank best uses its comparative  development strategy and to
advantage (its relationship with       convincing Bank management to think
governments) to create and support     of participation as an investment
the demand for participatory           strategy. What are the methodologies
methodologies and approaches? As       and systems for measuring change in
one Bank staff said: "If the ground is  process and in institutions? What are
fertile for participation to be taken  alternative approaches to measuring
seriously in a country, the Bank's     process progress and change? Can
participatory projects will be part of  economic analysis prove the cost
the transformation. If the ground is not  effectiveness and benefits of using
fertile, individual participatory      participatory and process oriented
projects will not be sufficient to tip the  approaches?
balance." How can the Bank identify
and build on existing demand, and   * While increasing the quantity of
create demand where it is lacking?     participation at the appraisal stage has
improved the effectiveness of the
i Partially as a result of the East Asian  Bank's portfolio, it is not a sufficient
crisis, the Bank has learned that      condition for sustainable development
development is not limited to          and institutionalization of
economic growth. To be successful and  participatory processes. What can the
sustainable, development must          Bank do to shift focus toward
balance social and economic factors    improving the quality of participation,
and issues. One Bank staff commented:    not only at the appraisal stage, but
"We now know that development does     during design, implementation and
not exclusively mean growth.           management of programs?
Development includes the
development of society and the      * Currently many teams are working in
development of economies." In light of    different sectors in each region
that, how can participation support the  developing new approaches to local
goals of good governance,             level planning and management, local
transparency, and accountability? How  institutional development, and social
can participation help pave the way for    development, among other issues.
more equity, viability, and            This has led to a proliferation of
sustainability?
28



Conclusions and Emerging Issues
institutional and capacity building  * Given that Bank reviews (OED, QAG)
systems by the Bank and local         find that borrower participation is a
governments. What mechanism can be    strong predictor of project
used to integrate this work across    performance, how far can the Bank
sectors in order to maximize impacts,  move toward more adaptable lending
increase effectiveness and develop a  instruments or lines of credit, in which
critical mass to influence policy and  projects can be appraised at regular
institutional change?                 intervals and institutional capacity can
be built on an iterative basis as the
* How can the Bank work better with      project proceeds?
partners whose comparative
advantage is fostering participation at  * Given the reality of limited time and
local levels? How can the Bank        money to identify, design, and prepare
strengthen institutional capacity within    projects, what are the best methods
governments to work on participatory  and tools to use? What partnerships
approaches, especially in partnership  can be developed? How can high
with NGOs? How can partner             quality work be supported and
organizations use the Bank's leverage  maintained?
at the government level to scale-up
participation?
29



Notes
1. See Toward a Listening Bank: A Review of    4. Taken primarily from C. Robb.
Best Practice and the Efficacy of Beneficiary  Forthcoming. "Can the Poor Influence
Assessment. 1998. World Bank Social        Policy? Participatory Poverty Assessments
Development Paper 23, Washington, D.C.:    and the Challenge of Inclusion."
World Bank.                                Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
2. Taken primarily from D. Narayan and     5. World Bank. 1996. World Bank
K. Ebbe. 1997. Design of Social Funds:     Participation Sourcebook. Washington, D.C.:
Participation, Demand Orientation, and Local    World Bank.
Organizational Capacity. World Bank
Discussion Paper 375, Washington, D.C.:     6. The formal name of these positions
World Bank.                                differs in different regions, reflecting to some
degree the changing role of the position. For
3. Taken primarily from J. Clark and W.  instance, in the Africa Region they are called
Dorschel. 1998. "Civil Society Participation    "NGO Liaison Officers;" in South Asia they
in World Bank Country Assistance           are called "NGO and Social Analysis
Strategies-Lessons from Experience, FY97-    Specialists;" and in the Latin America and
98." Washington, D.C.: World Bank.         Caribbean Region they are known as "Civil
Society and Social Development Specialists."
30



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SOC I AL  D EVE LOPM  ENT
Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network
The World Bank
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